The MTA Is Way Behind On Train, Signal, And Resiliency Upgrades

A new comptroller's report finds that the MTA is lagging [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] Comptroller Finds The MTA Way Behind On Major Projects Plus: Retired subway conductors are getting $35,000 to briefly return to work. One Bronx straphanger is chaining herself to metal posts to avoid getting pushed onto the tracks. And the new West Side Story film has a hidden aural treat for subway aficionados. By James Ramsay --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [a train yard] Xachery Irving/Shutterstock The MTA has a plan to spend a record $51.5 billion on capital improvements by 2025, with new trains, new signals, and major climate resiliency fixes all on the shopping list. But according to a new report from the state comptroller's office, the agency is way behind schedule — and hasn't even finished projects from the previous capital plan. "[The MTA] needs to reassess and focus its priorities to get money where it is most needed to restore the system and bring riders back," said State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. For example, the comptroller notes that subway cars should be replaced every 40 years, but currently, about 40% of the MTA’s 6,500 subway cars are over 30 years of age. The other 53% are between 10 and 19 years old, and the next delivery of new cars won’t arrive until 2025 due to COVID-related delays. Over the summer, the MTA said the first arrivals of its newest subway car would be on the tracks by the fall of 2022. In 2013, the last time the MTA did a needs assessment of its trains and equipment, it found that $8.7 billion in signal upgrades would be necessary by 2024. But the agency is still finishing work from the previous capital plan — projects slated for 2015-2019 — and has only spent $907 million on signals, presumably on the 7 line, with work still underway on the F and the A, C, and E lines. The MTA now hopes to spend $5.9 billion on electronic signals by 2024. Furthermore, repairs following Sandy, the 2012 storm that caused catastrophic damage to the system, are still underway nearly a decade later. The comptroller found that less than half of those $7.7 billion worth of projects are complete, while about a third of the repair work is under construction now. This comes as the MTA has begun grappling with torrential downpours that are more frequent with climate change. Rain storms this year temporarily paralyzed the system — even though the MTA was able to get subway trains running quickly after the rains stopped, it still took Metro-North several days after Ida to get back to regular service. The riders’ advocate on the MTA board, Lisa Daglian, argues that resiliency projects should be prioritized now. "Riders urgently need targeted funding for resiliency capital improvements – not just in the next capital program, but also in the short-term, before the next Ida or Sandy strikes," Daglian wrote in a statement. "A resiliency assessment should be undertaken now – in the context of the regional ecosystem and environment – to determine the best and most urgent use of scarce resources across interconnecting agencies." The comptroller's report shows that for the subways, about half of the Sandy repair projects are complete, while only 20% of the Long Island Railroad’s projects are done, and just 4% of Metro-North’s projects are finished. In response, an MTA spokesperson said that the comptroller's report is based on an outdated "capital project delivery system." "With the help of the State Legislature, the MTA has replaced its prior system of multiple construction agencies and disjointed planning and project development departments with a single new entity that has changed the way we develop and deliver projects," the spokesperson said. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Midtown Is Getting Pedestrianized For The Holidays [the Rockefeller Center skating rink] Scott Lynch/Gothamist With the expectation of holiday crowds — parts of Manhattan are already seeing foot traffic [exceed pre-pandemic levels]( — New York City is once again shutting down traffic on sections of roadways near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. "Creating more space for pedestrians around Rockefeller Center will keep people safe while ensuring minimal disruption to the rest of the life of the city," said Department of Transportation Commissioner Hank Guttman. "New Yorkers can of course do their part by avoiding unnecessary driving in Midtown during the holiday season." Starting tomorrow, December 3rd, here's what you can expect, per the city's press release: Pedestrian-Only Side Streets: 49th and 50th Streets between 5th and 6th Avenues will be open only to pedestrians during the most congested hours. The City will close these streets to vehicle traffic between 11 a.m. and midnight daily. 5th Avenue: Movable barriers will be placed on the east and west sides of 5th Avenue between 48th and 52nd Streets, eliminating a lane of traffic on each side of the avenue to create more pedestrian space. Additionally, there will be no turns allowed onto 47th, 49th, or 51st Streets. 6th Avenue: Movable barriers will be placed on the east side of 6th Avenue between 48th and 52nd Streets, eliminating one lane of traffic to create more pedestrian space. Buses: MTA buses will bypass all stops between 48th to 52nd Streets, and all crosstown buses will be re-routed around Rockefeller Center during pedestrian-only hours. — [Reporting by Jen Carlson]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's What Else Is Happening The MTA will spend $100 million on a year's worth of COVID tests for transit workers who refuse to get vaccinated. Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to issue a vaccine mandate for the state-level MTA, which means the roughly 30% of the transit workforce that hasn't submitted proof of vaccination can keep working, those employees will just need to undergo weekly testing. The MTA's acting chair, Janno Lieber, said that enacting a vaccine mandate at this point would only worsen a transit crew shortage. ([New York Daily News]( Speaking of a crew shortage, the MTA is also paying retired train operators $35,000 to come back and work for three months. Out of the 800 retired workers who got a letter asking them to come back, 20 have so far agreed. The MTA has simultaneously hired more instructors to get train operating trainees on the job faster. ([The New York Times]( Despite serious issues with overtime abuse, the MTA is still allowing some workers to use the "honor system" to log their time. After a Long Island Rail Road worker wound up being the highest-paid agency employee in 2018 thanks to overtime fraud (he was on the clock while also bowling and on vacation), the MTA agreed to spend $24 million on clocks that force workers to scan their fingerprints at the start and end of shifts. But the MTA's inspector general found that the biometric timekeeping system is still not fully in effect. ([Gothamist]( Chaining yourself to a post on a subway platform is one way to prevent getting pushed onto the tracks. A Bronx TikTokker went viral last week with a video of herself attached to a pole with a bike lock as she waits for a train. "People want to push people into trains — that ain’t gonna happen to me," 51-year-old Wanda Vela explains in the video. Though there have been several high-profile incidents of people being pushed, [crime is down]( in the subway system. ( [New York Post]( The saga of trying to protect lower Manhattan from storms and rising sea levels is also the story of how America works. "Covering the [F.D.R. Drive] is a pipe dream these [white environmentalists] are using to derail a plan that is about saving our lives and our park," one public housing resident told architecture critic Michael Kimmelman, who wrote a masterful piece about the efforts to make East River Park ecologically resilient, and how the tensions between expertise, community engagement, and various factions with the "community" get in the way of anything actually being built. ( [The New York Times]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- And Finally: The Subway's Rendition Of 'Somewhere' Made It Into 'West Side Story' [a dance scene from West Side Story] Nico Tavernese/20th Century Studios It's become a cult trivia fact — and something thousands of people must have independently observed — that when newer subway cars leave a station, they screech out the first three notes of "Somewhere," Maria and Tony's duet from West Side Story. This only occurs with train cars built after the year 2000, which run on alternating current power. In order to take in the direct current power coming out of the third rail, inverters have to chop up the electricity, which is where the notes come from. Of course, West Side Story takes place before the year 2000. But as a loving little nod to New York City and the subway system, the sound designers on Steven Spielberg's new film adaptation [included the anachronistic screeches in the movie](. We approve. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [DONATE]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [WNYC]( [WQXR]( [NJPR]( [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 All rights reserved. [Terms of Use.]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your [preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( from this list